A Certain Magical Index Volume 22

“Here comes another one. What do we do!?” asked the Academy City man.
The Russian woman moved her fingers along an anti-tank rocket launcher.
“Isn’t it obvious? We end this before it can explode!! Help me, Academy City. We need
your firepower!!”
“Dammit. And I’m already busy stopping the Kremlin Report!!”
“The objective is the same. Whether it’s occult or a bacterial wall, we need to destroy
every single thing that is going to cause unnecessary deaths!!”

♦
At that time, a golden arm about to explode was sliced off at about halfway and sank into
the Strait of Dover.
The civilians, the soldiers, and everyone else were dumbfounded.
Amid them all, the girl who had brought that golden arm to its demise spun her single
staff around.
She was a girl of about twelve.
“Hey, Mark!! You’ve been slacking off on maintaining my symbolic weapon, haven’t
you? Thanks to that, I’m only getting eighty percent output!!”
“Boss, the production and consecration of a symbolic weapon is supposed to be done by
the weapon’s user, are they not?”
“Tch. But what is going on? I never thought I would end up having to help out to save
the world.”
“Given the situation, it seems Fiamma of the Right’s plan is to purify the surface of the
earth. He seems to be disseminating pure Telesma to cause a change in the foundation
in order to save the world. He must be thinking that changing the foundation will
change all of the structures on top of it,” Mark explained. “However, the mere amount is
an issue. Spreading that much Telesma around will cause quite a bit of destruction. And
on top of that, unlike the magic power refined within people’s bodies, Telesma has an
elemental color from the beginning. This causes phenomena of or derived of the element
to occur.”
“So it’s like the flood of Noah’s Ark. The passing cleanliness is no different from a
disaster to us ugly humans.”
The blonde girl who had been referred to as “boss” put on an evil smile that was
unbefitting of her age.

92

And yet there was enough intensity in it that it made one think that there was no
expression that better fit her lovely face.
“And we ugly humans are labeled as ugly because we do not know when to give up.”
A distant explosion pounded on the girl’s ears.
It was coming from the horizon. Not even that girl could eliminate all of the golden arms.
The ocean where no people or ships were had low priority, so explosions like that
continued intermittently.
Along the affected area of the disaster, objects like giant angel halos and bones appeared
one after another.
“…I see. He’s made sure to see this through. He has prepared the resources to be used in
the revival after everything has been washed away. That’s a huge pile of materials more
valuable and convenient than gold, platinum, or tungsten.”
“Well, it is possible to create objects such as clothing and weapons from Telesma, from
an angel’s body…but as someone who uses human magic, the scale leaves me utterly
shocked.”
“But it is meaningless,” said the blonde girl quietly. “It may be true that having enough
resources to satisfy every single person on the planet would resolve most conflict. Each
individual will resolve things still as an individual. However, that is not enough. If
people are given resources, they will use those resources to expand the range of what
they control. People have already built rockets and taken control of the moon’s surface,
so we will not stop there. We will use the deuterium on the moon and aim for Mars. That
is why increasing or decreasing the amount of resources will not stop conflict. It will
only change the scope of the conflict.”
“Also, a material equal to the weapons and shields of the angels cannot be dealt with
using human techniques. They cannot be scratched even when using lasers or diamonds
and I doubt human magic can do anything to an angel’s body. This is not what I would
call resources. It is nothing but a pile of giant trash.”
“Well, our ultimate objective is to seize control of the entire world be it the magic side or
the science side. Ruling a world that has been wiped clean and is filled with useless toy
blocks sounds boring. Let’s go get busy with some philanthropic work.”
Numerous golden arms burst up from the ground and the ocean.
The girl paid them no heed.

93

She rested the staff she had been spinning around on her shoulder and unhesitatingly
stepped forward.
She used a megaphone a man in formal dress handed her and spoke to the entire
battlefield.
“Whether you’re British, French, from Academy City, or Russian, listen up!! All soldiers
that can do so need to support us with your infrared aiming information transmitters!
When you receive target coordinate information, provide backup fire with everything
you have!! Now, the time has come for a bombardment of the people, by the people, and
for the people!! Let’s make this flashy, baby!!”
Some British soldiers who were too shocked to stand opened their mouths to speak
despite not being able to control what they were saying.
“Wh-wha-what…? Who…are you people…?”
The girl did not turn around in response.
With her back to them and with many men in formal clothing surrounding her, the girl
spoke.
She brought the megaphone to her mouth and spoke as if singing.
“We are a magic cabal. We are the Dawn-Colored Sunlight.”

♦
At that time, Acqua of the Back stood upon a white snowy plain. He was watching an
oddly-shaped shadow break through the snow on the ground and show itself.
It no longer had anything to do with Academy City, the Russian army, science, or magic.
Everyone was working together to charge at the golden arm.
They wielded their weapons to destroy the source of the calamity before it could cause
another large-scale explosion.
They were fighting to ensure the damage did not spread further.
They were fighting to protect those important to them.
(…You are a fool, Fiamma.)
Acqua smiled faintly.

94

That man’s expression almost never changed, but at that time he did smile if just a bit.
(It is not you or me who will save this world. No matter what you destroy and no matter
what you bless, you cannot win over the people. For the people who live in the world,
protecting that world is the obvious choice.)
In that case, the time had come for him to wield his power as one of those people.
Acqua was no longer a Saint. Nor was he a member of God’s Right Seat. He did not have
the physical strength to swing up his own greatest weapon of Ascalon and the amount of
magic power he could refine was only on the level of an average magician.
But what did that matter?
Acqua was not fighting because he was a Saint or because he was a member of God’s
Right Seat. He did not feel that he had lived a praiseworthy life, but unfortunately, he
had a lingering attachment to that world at least to the extent of being able to think of
someone he wished to protect.

♦
At that time...
“Oh, there he is. I finally found him,” quietly said an old man as he removed binoculars
from his eyes.
A youth next to the old man spoke to him in exasperation.
“Is this really okay? You’ve returned to Russia of all places. There’s a rumor that the old
name of the Astrological Surgery Brigade is still recorded on the black list here.”
“Shut up. There’s nothing wrong with me using all the spiritual items I have stockpiled
for my own use. And when you heard that William Orwell was headed to Russia, you
headed after him without reporting it.”
“Well, I’ll admit that I lost my cool. I still owe him from the time with the Knights of
Orleans. Not returning that favor would leave a bad taste in my mouth.”
The youth held a French sword called a colichemarde that had been derived from a
sports tool. Next to him stood a woman who possessed the qualities of a spell called the
Oracle of d’Arc.
Those three were not alone.

95

Many people were gathered there. Many people had been saved along the path that
mercenary walked.
“So how’s the mercenary doing?”
“He’s doing mercenary work like usual. But something’s odd. I didn’t take him as
someone who would toy with something like this.”
“Are you worried?”
“Of course not.”
The old man sighed and then lightly swung the Japanese sword resting on his shoulder.
It was known as Raikiri.
That modern mass-produced spiritual item was based on anecdotes of strikes from
heaven being intercepted.
As if in response to that, hundreds of figures behind the old man held their own
individual weapons at the ready.
“Someone that lovely deserves our assistance.”
“But,” said a young man, “I don’t think this kind of makeshift solution will be able bring
an end to these disasters occurring one after another on a global scale.”
“I know. That’s what the former Astrological Surgery Brigade is for. People who freely
move across the world have a network allowing them to do so. The lines set up by those
obstinate people who thoughtlessly take root and protect a single place can be freely
brought together.”
“?”
“Well, a senile old man like me can at least tie together the thin, thin threads. The truly
tricky part will be done by more suitable people. …At the very root, they are not idiots.”
After saying that, the old man lightly swung Raikiri. “What free spirits like us must do is
simple. Do you know what that is, young man?”
“It is not to think about anything too difficult,” the young man smiled and swung his
colichemarde in a similar manner, “and take up our swords if there is someone we must
protect, right?”
“Let’s go.”

96

Those two words were enough.
They become a unified strength and charged into the battlefield.

♦
At that time, Vasilisa, the head of Annihilatus, strongly kicked a female magician who
had once been her subordinate causing the woman to fly into a set of double doors like a
shell destroying the locked door.
Vasilisa was within a palace in Moscow.
The tremendous noise that destruction made caused the shoulders of the person
confined within the room to tremble. He was a boy of about fifteen. He was so slender
that he had a linear beauty greater than even a true woman like Vasilisa. He was so
slender that it looked like he would end up in eternal sleep after three days of being out
on his own. The majestic outfit of the patriarch made him look like a small child who
had put on his father’s suit.
Vasilisa spat the blood that had gathered in her mouth onto the floor and smiled.
“Hello, our great leader. It seems you were treated quite carefully to have been thrown
into such a luxurious birdcage. The positions of the fairy-tale boy and heroine have been
completely reversed, but I’ve come to rescue you from the evil king’s castle.”
“…I did not think that anyone remained who would call me patriarch. I had no power.
No matter how much I yelled, no one would lay down their weapons. Everyone used the
signature I was tricked into providing as an indulgence and refused to listen to my
words attempting to repeal that decision.”
“You’re cute, so I’ll forgive you,” interrupted Vasilisa in a completely joking manner.
“And there is still something for you to do. It is something only the patriarch can do.”
“?”
Vasilisa was devoted to only Sasha Kreutzev, but her heart almost wavered at how lovely
that confused look on the patriarch’s small face was. The criteria on which she chose
where her allegiances lay were quite simple. She put her hand up to her face to make
sure she did not have a nosebleed.
(...C’mon, stop that. I’ve already lost a lot of blood, so I just don’t have enough left right
now.)
“Do you see that?”
Vasilisa suppressed her writhing heart and pointed toward the window.

97

Even from that distance, the fortress floating in the golden heavens was visible. That
was just how vast its scale and altitude were. It was the fortress of God’s Right Seat’s
Fiamma of the Right. It had been named the Star of Bethlehem from the remaining
fragmentary records.
“That fortress was created by gathering the necessary parts from Christian churches and
cathedrals across the world. However, each construction has its own ceremony. Just
gathering them all in one place would not be enough to neatly fuse them all together.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“There is a spell for connecting them,” Vasilisa said while waving her finger a bit.
“Fiamma used both the Roman Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church. In
other words, he used spells from both churches to their fullest in his plan to construct
that fortress.”
“In other words…”
“If we analyze it, we can break its joints. Most likely, the Russian Orthodox spells were
supplied to him by Nikolai Tolstoy, but no documents to that end were found in his
palace. However, we do not need to give up there. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Of course, the spells used would be ones that were top secret even in the Russian
Orthodox Church. Vasilisa did not think that Fiamma would use an easily analyzed spell
as the key for his fortress.
However…
“Oh, I see,” said the patriarch moving his thin lips and lightly rubbing his chin. “The
Phenomena Control and Reduction Reproduction Facility is nearby. In order to find the
conditions needed for the occurrence of ghostly and spiritual phenomena, a 1/1 scale
diorama facility is created where all sorts of experiments are performed…”
“If we remove the limiter, it can be applied to the Russian Orthodox magic used by
humans. And if we succeed in the simulation, we can calculate out what spells Fiamma
used.”
“So you’re telling me to remove that limiter.”
“I wonder if you can do it. Even with the ‘old cannibal woman of the one-legged house’
with you, your safety is not guaranteed.”
Vasilisa tried to rub the patriarch’s head, but he moved his head to the side to avoid her
hand and headed for the exit to the room. Unaware that his actions had excited her even
more, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church asked her a question.

98

“But the Star of Bethlehem’s joints use Roman Catholic magic as well as Russian
Orthodox magic. We may only be able to weaken it.”
“…Don’t worry about that. Despite being a quite stubborn, a certain oddly well-
connected and strange old man has helped us tie together those thin, thin threads.”
“?”
Bringing the wrinkled old woman phantom with her, Vasilisa headed along after the
patriarch.
“What I’m saying is that group is not as rotten as everyone thinks they are.”

♦
At that time, an old man named Matthai Reese who had abandoned his position as the
Roman Catholic pope headed down underground below a half-destroyed Vatican
cathedral. His objective was to analyze the spells Fiamma had used in his plan. Such a
large-scale plan could not be done solely with the spells for those in God’s Right Seat.
The central spells may have been from there, but it was highly possible that existing
Roman Catholic magic had been used to fill in the gaps.
“Hi there, you dandy gentleman. How are things going there?” said someone via a
magical communication.
“Hmph. Am I really the person you want to speak with? I am no longer the pope.”
“I am speaking with the person who I believe to be the leader of the Roman Catholic
Church both in name and in reality. And I do not think Pietro Yogdis would work well
together with our cute patriarch.”
“I’ll take that to mean you succeeded in getting an audience with the patriarch. And I
have finished selecting the main books I need. I am just about ready to construct a circle
for a super long-distance spell that will interfere with the Star of Bethlehem in the
Russian sky.”
“Oh, how convenient. It seems the Vatican does indeed have plenty of trump cards lying
in wait. I could do anything I wanted if my position was given that much of a budget.”
“How much credibility is there in the theory that the changes on the earth will cease
once power is taken from the Star of Bethlehem? I am still receiving reports from all
over the place of golden arms producing disasters.”
“Hmm? It should be fine. The changes on the earth are occurring in response to the
changes in the heavens. If we stop the changes in the heavens, the changes on the earth
should stop, too.”

99

“I hope you’re right. If everyone ends up being sacrificed despite having stopped
Fiamma, it will all have been for naught.”
“By the way, is the Roman Catholic Church really okay with this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Fiamma of the Right is in conflict with our interests. However, it is true that he is still
bringing great benefit to the Roman Catholic Church. If you destroy that foundation,
there is no guarantee that the Roman Catholic Church will be able to prosper as it has in
the past.”
“I do not mind. …There is no point in possessing a power that cannot protect everyone.
If it will save the people, I will stop Fiamma even if it strips the Roman Catholic Church
of power.”
“He’s sinfully cute.”
“…What are you talking about?”
“Our leader. I wonder if you had a time when you looked like that.”
“I had a disposition that made me beloved by many, but I was never referred to in that
way. I was chosen to be the pope after all, so I probably give off an image of a solemn
father.”
“Oh, it looks like our cute fatherly image has taken offense at that. But he’s so cute!! I
just want to hug him!!”
“…Actually, isn’t it the fairy-tale heroines that are most often referred to in that way?”
Matthai Reese said half out of exasperation as he looked over the massive amount of
data that was sleeping underground.
He was in a library filled with large bookshelves. The small girl known as Index
Librorum Prohibitorum had once been invited there.
If he knew what spells Fiamma had used, they may be able to fight back.
They may be able to stop that huge war.
However, that also meant…
“We are helping bring about our own defeat, aren’t we?” said a young priest following
Matthai Reese.
“It is not a defeat,” Matthai Reese corrected with a strength that stopped even others
from doubting. “Even in this, we are fighting for victory.”

100

“That victory will gain us nothing.”
“If you truly think that, you would not be helping me.”
The young priest fell silent for a bit.
Only the sound of flipping pages could be heard.
“…Can we redo it all once more?”
“We can,” was Matthai Reese’s short response.
There was a small smile on the old man’s face.
“We definitely can.”
Suddenly, Matthai Reese started to frown. Immediately afterwards, a stabbing headache
spread from his temples to the inside of his skull. He was in a vault of knowledge pure
enough that Index Librorum Prohibitorum was invited into it. Even for the former pope,
viewing that knowledge for a long period of time brought a deep negative effect on his
body and mind.
“We can still do it,” Matthai Reese said while holding a hand out to drive back the young
priest who was attempting to see if he was okay. “We can still fight. In order to open up
the path to a hope-filled tomorrow, we cannot stop here.”
However, it was true that he was worried.
The secret ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church and the wisdom of the Russian
Orthodox Church.
If they used the techniques used in the Star of Bethlehem against it, they would be able
to severely damage it.
However, it was not clear if they could actually bring it down.
After all…
(Those are not the only techniques being used…)
He had received word that Fiamma of the Right had stolen the remote control spiritual
item for Index Librorum Prohibitorum.
That meant that the Star of Bethlehem might not only be using Roman Catholic and
Russian Orthodox techniques.

101

The final key was…
“The Anglican archbishop, hm?”
“Hey, hey. Do you want to play a game of rock-paper-scissors to see who has to speak
with that trickster of a woman?”

♦
At that time, Sasha Kreutzev pulled many different tools from the belt at her waist while
standing within the Star of Bethlehem that floated above Russia. She scraped an L-
shaped crowbar along the floor to draw a gigantic magic circle.
Lessar was hurriedly preparing the escape containers.
There were many metal container-like objects with large parachutes on them hanging
down from the bottom of the fortress. Lessar was preparing them for use.
In addition to those two girls, over two hundred Russian Orthodox magicians that had
been cast aside by Fiamma were there. They had to be allowed to escape to the surface
before Fiamma disposed of them.
And even if Fiamma was defeated, they still needed a means of escape.
They were over ten thousand meters up in the air after all.
“Wait! I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but the ‘last bus’ is about to leave!!”
“My first response: I am not here because I wish to be. A supplementary explanation: I
truly wish to get away from here as quickly as I can.” Sasha’s hands manipulating her
tools did not stop as she spoke. “My personal opinion: However, I also am resistant to
fleeing without doing anything. The only one actually opposing Fiamma right now is
that boy. As a professional magician, I must at least support him even if it is useless
resistance.”
“How!?”
“My second response: Fiamma used my body to call in Gabriel and to change a section
of the sky into the environment he wished for. …As such, I may have become a major
factor that can drive a wedge into Fiamma’s plan.”
She did not know how much of an effect she could produce.
At the very least, it was impossible for Sasha Kreutzev’s actions alone to bring Fiamma’s
huge plan to a standstill.
However, she still had to do it.

102



Sasha’s gaze did not waver as it lay hidden behind her bangs.
Lessar scratched at her hair.
“Ahh, dammit!! Then I’ll help you finish this as quickly as possible!!”
“?”
“I too was thinking about sticking around to the very last possible second. That boy
seems like he will be beneficial to England, so I’ll help you out just to kill some time.”
“My third response: You do not need to go that far…”
“Either way, our escape plan has been temporarily stopped since you have decided to do
this.”
Lessar used her thumb to point behind herself.
The Russian Orthodox magicians were getting out of their escape containers and
approaching.
They were approaching to help spread the complex magic circle Sasha was trying to
draw.
Sasha was shocked, but Lessar grinned in her direction and spoke.
“Now this flow will not change until we get some kind of result, so let’s fight back against
Fiamma’s plan.”

♦
At that time, a group of girls dressed in mainly black nun’s habits were traveling across a
snowy plain of Russia at high speed.
Their clothes looked like those of the Roman Catholic Church, but they were currently
not affiliated with that church.
They were the former Agnese Forces.
Those two hundred nuns were headed for a place where both Academy City and Russian
soldiers were collapsed.
Fighting did not necessarily mean to kill one’s enemies.
They had their own way of fighting.

104

“Sister Agnese, we have spotted people needing to be rescued. It is impossible to get
them all out of the effective range of the explosions. As planned, shelters need to be built
at points calculated from the distribution map of those needing to be rescued!!”
“Listen up, Sister Angelene. The shelters use the theory of the swaddling clothes and
manger of the Son of God! Order each of the nuns skilled in the use of Divine Mother-
style Ex Voto to set up shelters!!”
“The large rescue helicopters are on standby three thousand meters back! Have them
transport the heavily wounded out before the next explosion!!”
“Get the lightly wounded to one of the shelters! We do not have time to transport them
all out!!”
It all happened in no time at all.
What they were referring to as shelters were nothing more than tent-like objects made
of a wooden framework and a large white cloth. However, they were still not objects that
could be constructed in a dozen or so seconds. To those watching on who had no idea
what was going on, it may have looked like the shelters were spring-loaded toys that
automatically expanded.
Collapsed soldiers who were unable to move were taken one after another to the shelters
created in the middle of the battlefield.
Surprisingly, both the Academy City and Russian soldiers were treated in this way.
They were all humans who held the same feelings toward that one situation.
If they had all realized that earlier, such a showy war may not have occurred in the first
place.
“…Who are you?”
Those words were squeezed out by a man who had been controlling an Academy City
powered suit.
He asked his questions even as he had bandages wrapped around his body.
“Whose side are you on…?”
“We did not come all this way to discuss that,” responded a girl in a black nun’s habit. “If
I must respond, I will say that our only goal is to reduce the number of injuries in this
war as much as possible.”
“…”

105

The nun was using medicines made of plants rather than the usual antibiotics and the
soldier was at a loss for words. As if to fill that silence, a communication reached the
shelter of wood and cloth.
The soldier could not see any kind of equipment.
A male voice came from what looked like a card that was stuck to one of the shelter’s
pillars.
“Really now. I knew Fiamma loved to keep things clean, but I never thought he would
try to clean things on such a large scale.”
“So this really is part of Fiamma’s purification plan?”
“It would be best to assume it is. He’s destroying the status quo and producing the
materials needed to recreate it all. …However, new materials that no human can destroy
and therefore cannot be manufactured by anyone are nothing more than giant pieces of
garbage.”
A sharp yet heavy vibration shook the snowy plain.
Immediately afterwards, a golden arm protruded up from the ground nearby.
The Academy City man lying in a bed grimaced in pain and sat up. A Russian soldier in
the bed next to him did the same.
“Dammit, hand me my gun,” the man said with a groan as he stretched one hand out
toward a nun. “I can’t let this end without fighting back. I don’t know who’s doing this,
but you’re clearly good people since you’ve helped us out. I’ll give you enough of an
opening to escape.”
However, there was no need for the Academy City or Russian soldiers to make a suicide
attack on the arm.
They were not even given the time to do so.
Almost an instant later, a single long sword severed the golden arm at its base.
A majestic form could be seen through a gap in the cloth forming the simple tent-like
shelter.
The Asian girl wielding a katana over two meters long was strange, but it was even
stranger that she had been able to slice apart that golden arm in a single strike.
The golden arm was over one hundred meters long and thick enough to match. Even if
that two-meter sword had a tremendously sharp blade, it should not have been able to
sever that golden arm simply due to its thickness.

106

And yet…
“Basically, it’s the same concept as opening a slit in a plastic bag,” said a female voice
from the card-shaped communication device on the pillar. “You create a small wound on
the target and then let the weight of the target force the slit wider. It is a required skill in
the many legends of dragons and other beasts being sliced through with a sword that is
clearly smaller than the beast.”
The Academy City man was in shock and his body was covered in light from an old form
of illumination called a torch that a nun wearing black was holding. A circle of light as if
from a flashlight crept across his body. He thought she was checking for injuries, but
something was odd. Even after the circle of light passed over parts of his body, his
body’s surface glowed palely.
It was as if his body was being supported from without.
“Whether you plan to live on or block the way before a powerful enemy, you must first
be able to move your body.”
As he received medical treatment, the Academy City man recalled the situation outside
of the shelter.
He tried to remember as accurately as possible where the still functioning tanks and
powered suits were.
Before long, the man had completed his preparations to head out to attack.
This time, his enemy was not the Russian army.

♦
At that time, two swords severed giant gold arms growing from the surface.
One was a sword of light extending from a shard of the British blade Curtana Second.
The other was the French blade Durendal.
Using those blades were the representatives of each country, Second Princess Carissa
and the Femme Fatale. Their wounds from Archangel Misha Kreutzev had not been
healed, but there was no sign of weakness in their actions.
“First an angel and now the symbol of the right arm. That bastard is obsessed with
Telesma, isn’t he?” said Carissa in a disinterested manner as she swung her sword of
light. “Move the Mobile Fortress Glastonbury from Deployment B to Deployment C.
Check how it’s doing. A malfunction here would be a real pain in the ass.”

107

“…If you removed the altitude limitation on Glastonbury, you could probably reach
Fiamma’s temple a lot faster.”
The Femme Fatale looked up into the sky. Ten thousand meters up above her was the
fortress known as the Star of Bethlehem.
“If it was that easy, we wouldn’t be going to all this trouble. Glastonbury was developed
to conquer areas along the surface. It is not meant to be used in high-altitude battles in
the sky.”
Carissa turned back toward Glastonbury.
“The Star of Bethlehem, hm? I’m surprised the Russian Orthodox Church and the
Roman Catholic Church were willing to disclose that information.”
“They were both used. All this means is that neither of them are so beyond saving that
they would just stand by and allow a plan like this to happen.”
The Femme Fatale lightly swung her sword around by moving only her wrist and began
to think.
(Come to think of it, my little sister’s country is in this area, isn’t it?)
She then arbitrarily punctuated her thoughts with a “hm”.
(If I get her to owe me a favor, it could lead to France’s benefit.)
(Hey, sister. I would rather one of the representatives of Western Europe did not plot to
take things from a smaller country. It’s childish.)
(Oh, Eliza. It’s polite to knock before entering.)
(You are within range of my bombardment spell.)
(If you were truly that skilled, I do not think the French government would have
recognized your secession.)
(That area was originally intended to be a battlefield on which to fight Fiamma, so my
soldiers have set up all sorts of dangerous things. In the end, Fiamma invaded and stole
Sasha Kreutzev before we were able to use it, but my bombardment spell can still reach
that point.)
(Are you hoping to get me to owe you a favor?)
(Don’t you think it is more natural for a small country to take things from a
representative of Western Europe?)

108

Sparks flew between those sisters.
And then Carissa seemed to receive a transmission. However, it was not from a magical
means of communication. In response to an electronic tone, the second princess pulled a
radio out from her cleavage.
The Femme Fatale looked at Carissa like she was looking at indecent lingerie.
“…I’ve asked you this many, many, many times before, but is it really necessary to store
that there?”
“Shut up. What are you, my mother? …Unfortunately, this dress has nothing remotely
like pockets. I hope you have enough sense to tell whether it is better to do this or clip it
to my panties.”
Carissa spoke into the radio and seemed to be talking with someone in London.
“I see, I see. So that’s it. In other words, the techniques and knowledge of the Anglican
Church are needed in addition to those of the Roman Catholic Church and the Russian
Orthodox Church in order to bring down the Star of Bethlehem.”
The second princess gave multiple quick nods.
“In that case, tell this to the head of the Anglican Church: If you do not immediately
disclose the necessary information, Second Princess Carissa of the royal family and of
military matters will shove Curtana up your ass.”
Having said what she needed to say, Carissa cut off the transmission.
“It seems the preparations to bring it down are underway. However, just waiting for that
to happen will only let the damage increase.”
“So you are saying there is only one thing we must do?”
The two women once more held their legendary-class swords at the ready.
A number of golden arms appeared from the ground as if surrounding them.
Standing back to back, they spoke.
“There is a way to obstruct Fiamma’s plan without directly attacking the Star of
Bethlehem.”
“…And that is to destroy every single golden arm that appears on the surface, right?”
Multiple cutting strikes flew and the surrounding arms were destroyed in an instant.

109

The knights, Necessarius, and the French magicians followed suit.
Their invasion began.

♦
At that time, a thin Western sword made of something like particles of light mercilessly
pierced through Stiyl Magnus’s shoulder and into his chest as he stood within St.
George’s Cathedral in England. The sword was the sword of the harvest god Freyr. It was
a spiritual item that moved automatically and surely stabbed into its opponent’s vitals.
It cut through Stiyl’s collarbone and ripped through thick arteries and organs.
The expression on the girl named Index’s face remained frozen.
Stiyl’s movements stopped.
And in that time, multiple attacks continued on.
Another two swords stabbed into Stiyl’s back and waist and blood red wings swung
down as if to finish him off. The attacks were simply overwhelming. The repeated
attacks crushed human flesh while also causing fatal damage to the life force that was
the source of magic power.
However, Index’s expressionless face tilted ever so slightly to the side in confusion.
The multiple blades and wings had definitely slid into Stiyl’s body. However, there was
no other change. It had been too smooth. No blood was shed and no flesh was crushed.
The human body was not cut apart as easily as a spoon dipping into yogurt.
Her conclusion came too late.
By the time she realized it was a magical trick, the next move had already been taken.
“It is a mirage. It’s a common method,” said a voice behind her.
She then noticed something odd in the area of her spine.
Immediately afterwards, an explosive noise as if from a strike of lightning exploded out.
Stiyl had activated the restraining rune card he had put on her.
Index’s backbone creaked as it bent like a bow.
“Warning: Chapter 47, Verse 80. Restraining effect on mind and body due to a
psychological effect has been confirmed. It is affecting mental functions. Leading the
restraining effect to a dummy area and putting priority on maintaining ability to analyze
spells.”

110

The rune on the laminated card started to fade like a poster that had been left in the sun
for long periods of time. The important “staining” of the rune was being removed. Of
course, once that coloration disappeared, its effects would disappear too. It would not
last long.
(…She may have been weakened by the interruption from the remote control spiritual
item, but she is still the library of 103,000 grimoires. I did not think that this would be
enough to seal her.)
What he had managed to do was buy some time.
At a fundamental level, Stiyl Magnus could not defeat Index.
However…
“I do not mind.” With a small smile on his face, Stiyl pulled a new rune card from his
pocket. “If that annoying boy can finish things in this time, we win.”
He then heard a footstep.
Stiyl looked over to find Lola Stuart smiling.
She was lightly swinging around something in her hand.
At first Stiyl thought it was the remote control spiritual item and his eyes opened wide in
shock, but that was not what it was.
Lola was holding a card-shaped communications spiritual item.
“Here’s your reward,” she said.
She brought that communications spiritual item that was connected to the leaders of the
Roman Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church close to her lips.
“Well, it seems the quota has been met, so I will aid in the retrieval of the grimoire
library as well.”

♦
And so the three major Christian denominations, the Anglican Church, the Roman
Catholic Church, and the Russian Orthodox Church, finally joined forces.
They had a single objective.
Fiamma of the Right’s castle known as the Star of Bethlehem would be robbed of its
power in order to stop any more atrocities from occurring.

111

They began to move in order to tear off the chains that were binding the world.
♦

Kamijou Touma and Fiamma of the Right wielded their respective arms.
Multiple shock-waves shook the area, and the magical aftereffects turned into a flood of
light that scattered about. Besides the direct clashes, light flashed intermittently around
them and blood red beams of light were fired in multiple directions. It was an attack
using the 103,000 grimoires.
However, their clashes were not equal.
Bit by bit with each collision, power left Fiamma’s third arm as if a sharp beak were
pecking at soft flesh. Fiamma’s arm had gained special flesh via various ceremonies, but
it was clearly becoming battered and crushed.
Kamijou’s power was not anything special.
The source of the power supporting Fiamma of the Right was breaking.
Fiamma wondered why.
His third arm was supposed to produce tremendous power, but its output was falling bit
by bit. Cracks were running through the Star of Bethlehem that he had constructed from
the important parts of churches and cathedrals from all across the world. It was also
losing its natural glow. The earth was supposed to change in the same way as the golden
heavens, but even after so much time, it had not been conquered. In fact, something like
small bits of contamination were appearing here and there in the golden heavens.
Something was wrong. It was the same as how a single gear ceasing to move could
obstruct the movement of all sorts of mechanisms.
Nothing was going as he wanted.
At that rate, he would no longer be able to catch up.
Fiamma was trying to release more power than was being supplied to him which
effectively weakened him.
“Ooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!”
Fiamma yelled and swung his third arm even stronger and faster.

112

However, he himself realized there was a contradiction in that action. His arm was
supposed to be almighty. If he swung it, it would hit, so he had no need for speed. If he
hit, the target would be destroyed, so he had no need for destructive power.
And yet Fiamma was now relying on simple arm strength. That was proof that the
essence that should reside within his arm had been shaken.
There was a low vibration.
The entirety of the Star of Bethlehem shook. However, it had not been caused by the
battle between Kamijou and Fiamma. The vibration had been completely independent of
them. The fortress itself was headed for destruction.
The speakers within the fortress activated on their own.
Fiamma did not know it, but the voice that came through belonged to a girl named
Lessar.
“The Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Russian Orthodox Churches have begun to release
the joint spells on the Star of Bethlehem! Um…Sasha Kreutzev of the Russian Orthodox
Church and I have embedded a relay point for the releasing spell and are now getting
aboard the escape containers. There are no more containers! You need to hurry!!”
Once more, an irregularity Fiamma of the Right had not even considered was damaging
his plan.
That irregularity was known as virtue.
“It’s over, Fiamma,” Kamijou said quietly as he brought his right fist up at the ready.
“Your right arm that is at the center of your plan is losing power and your ceremonial
grounds you call the Star of Bethlehem is no longer usable. And most importantly, if you
truly wanted to save the world, you would be rejoicing at the fact that the virtue within
people’s hearts is winning out over the malice. …The fact that you cannot do that shows
that your illusion has already failed.”
“True,” Fiamma said with a slight laugh. “I am at the disadvantage here. Now that the
power at my base is weakening, my plan cannot be continued. The purification on the
earth is grinding to a halt. …Even if I swung my right arm now while it is rapidly losing
power, it is unlikely I could take those on the earth down with me. If everything stays the
way it is, it will all fall apart in this indefinite state.”
“…”
“Yes, if everything stays the way it is.”

113

Fiamma’s words were ominous.
Immediately afterwards, the golden heavens above their heads wavered. Shading
appeared in the glowing heavens. All at once, a mass of light headed for the Star of
Bethlehem. Masses of energy appeared one after another in rapid succession and
focused on the inside of the Star of Bethlehem.
Kamijou’s expression changed and Fiamma lightly swung around the remote control
spiritual item.
“Just so you know, I did not use this. This is the result you all brought upon yourselves.”
“What…?”
“I did not obtain anyone else’s help. Time was simply on my side,” Fiamma said.
He had not opened the gate of heaven. He was simply such a holy existence that the
world around him changed to become like heaven.
The change had continued with time and it had now passed a certain line.
“It was originally supposed to change bit by bit in stages, but this ‘virtue’ continually
prevented that from happening. As a result, an unnatural distortion was created
between the heavens and the earth similar to power being stored up within a bent
continental plate.”
Even then, a massive amount of power was flowing into the Star of Bethlehem. If that
exceeded the limit of what the fortress could hold, it would no longer be able to hold
back the amount left over.
“As a result, the heavens are filled with Telesma while the earth is not. That massive
power will now rain down like the flowing of an electric current. …Simply put, the earth
will be filled with light. It is via a different route than I had intended, but the result will
be the same. The change is still continuing in this world.”
“Do you understand what is going to happen?” Kamijou said while grinding his teeth.
“That’s a huge mass of the same energy that makes up an angel’s body. If that falls down
to the earth, a ridiculously huge explosion will spread across the surface before any kind
of change can take place!! It was the same with Misha during Angel Fall. If power that
massive is allowed to rage without being controlled, it could easily destroy all of human
civilization!!”
“Yes, it is unfortunate, but only for you. Given the amount of power, at least the entire
continent of Eurasia will be enveloped by the light.”

114

Fiamma’s gaze still held power.
That was the first time Kamijou had seen the concept of refusing to give up show itself in
such an evil way.
“Even if a bit of virtue showed itself amid this war, overwhelming destruction will blot it
out from above. Wielding virtue is no use. You cannot stop tragedy that way and the
despair that comes over you upon realizing that turns your malice into something much
deeper and heavier than it was before.”
And the mass of highly concentrated malice that was created by giving up gave a large
stimulus to the power within Fiamma. It was much greater than before. It was much
stronger than what Fiamma had simulated it would be. He stood at the top of every
living thing on that planet and he could wield that power to change the world in any way
he saw fit.
“Overly powerful divine punishment can easily destroy the unions between people. It is
the same as the bonds between people being broken with the destruction of the Tower of
Babel. And in response to the malice created in that, I can once more draw on a
tremendous power.”
“…Fiamma…”
“It is too late to save the world in your way,” Fiamma said with a smile on his face as he
saw Kamijou clenching his fist tighter than ever before.
That smile was an expression of calm created by his newly guaranteed supply of
tremendous power.
“Now, victory is mine.”

Between the Lines 8

After sticking some cloth into the slight depression that was like a small window on the
side of the Nu-AD1967 warhead, Mikoto finally sighed.
“…Now the warhead has finally been neutralized. If they end up having an ultrasonic
remote control, we could be in trouble though.”
“From the confusion over the transmissions, it seems they do not have another plan,
reports Misaka. They seem to be panicking over the fact that nothing is happening, says
Mikoto adding on some emotional information.”

115

“Do you think they’ll come up with another plan?”
“With the active unit gone, it seems they will switch over to fleeing, predicts Misaka.
They do not have the remaining strength needed to carry a warhead of this size, so they
will likely abandon the nuclear weapon, says Misaka as she listens to the
communications.”
“But just leaving them be could come back to bite us in the ass.”
“A different faction of the Russian military seems to have come to that same conclusion.
Special forces have surrounded those officers, says Misaka as she intercepts different
communications. They will be stopping them with a special suppression strategy once
they leave the building, reports Misaka.”
“The special forces must not be heading into the building themselves because they don’t
want the officers to feel cornered enough to detonate the nuclear bomb. That isn’t
something that can be promptly detonated in a vehicle or something.”
Mikoto pushed away the cloth and then pressed against the end of the shovel the Sister
threw to her. It had been mounted on the body of a tank. Mikoto manipulated
magnetism to smash the reinforced glass over the optical receiver.
“Then we just have to destroy the warhead’s connectors.”
After destroying the three points that connected to the computer, Mikoto turned back
toward the Sister.
“Okay, all done. Now this warhead can’t be used. Of course, that would change if
someone put it in a different outer shell.”
“The warhead alone weighs two tons, so it cannot be moved without a crane, predicts
Misaka.”
“Just in case, we should tell either the Russian authorities or Academy City about this
spot.”
For the moment, the problems surrounding the nuclear weapon had been resolved.
That was when things truly began.
Misaka Mikoto had not come to Russia to do something like that. She had come to meet
up with that spiky-haired boy and punch him.
She spun around looking at her surroundings.

116

“You have the means of using all sorts of weapons installed in you, right?”
“If necessary, Misaka can also use the Misaka Network to acquire additional information,
says Misaka as she discusses with the other Misakas how she should negotiate her part-
time job wages.”
“You can’t get paid until you’re in high school, so you’re working for free.”
“…Aren’t you getting your priorities backwards?”
Mikoto pointed in a certain direction ignoring the Sister’s mumbled words.
“I don’t know if they were going to use it as a weapon or as a means of transportation,
but there is a VTOL craft over there. Can’t we use that to fly up to that fortress in the
heavens?”

117

CHAPTER 12

Final Battle in the Arctic Ocean.
Last_Fight.

Part 1

The white snowy plain was wrapped in silence.
Accelerator’s song had ended. The end of the cane supporting his body slipped.
Accelerator’s entire body was covered in red blood as he fell from his knees. That white
hell would not allow its color to be changed, so he alone was dyed in the colors of his
wounds and pain.
His throat had exceeded its limit and his raspy breaths made it sound like his throat had
been scraped over with a file. He must have been injured internally as well because a red
liquid occasionally flowed out with his breaths.
He could not sing any longer.
The tubes within his body had something sticky filling them up.
However, Accelerator’s dark red-stained lips loosened a bit.
(That’s right.)
He did not need to sing any longer. After all…
“…Are you okay?...says Misaka as Misaka asks a question.”
His vision was hazy, but he heard that small voice.
Those words came from the girl whose voice he had wanted to hear for quite some time.
That sentence had been spoken by the girl who just before could not maintain
consciousness and whose life could not be guaranteed. Her voice was quiet, but
Accelerator could tell she had retained her core.

118

Her existence was a trembling one that could disappear at any time and was
frighteningly unreliable, but now a pillar that would not disappear had been set up at its
center.
Last Order had been stabilized.
She would no longer suffer at the hands of unreasonable violence.
Accelerator reflected deeply upon that truth. The next thing he knew, he was moving.
The Level 5 who had once been called Academy City’s strongest monster stretched out
his trembling hands and embraced Last Order’s small body that was still limp and
without strength.
He embraced her tightly.
He embraced her so as to never let her go again.
“…Thank goodness…”
Those words leaked from his mouth.
His voice was trembling and not just because the inside of his body had been torn to
shreds.
“Dammit. Thank goodness. Thank goodness…!!”
One would not have thought that it was in Accelerator’s nature to speak those words.
However, what exactly was Accelerator’s “nature”? Perhaps this was who he truly was.
Perhaps before all the tragedy and before Academy City’s darkness swallowed up that
young Level 5, his nature had been that of a child that commonly smiled and commonly
cried.
Even after being overwhelmingly dyed in evil, that had remained unchanged within
Accelerator.
It had remained.
Perhaps that was what Yoshikawa Kikyou and Yomikawa Aiho had seen and decided
that the society of adults needed to protect.
As Last Order had only been conscious intermittently for quite a while, she did not know
the details of the situation.
But that did not matter.

119

As Accelerator embraced her, Last Order brought her small hands around to his back
where she gently stroked him.
She was accepting him.
Most likely, it was the same as when she had first spotted what remained within him.
“…”
Accelerator thought as he made sure of that warmth he had finally regained.
It was true that the world was cold, harsh, and too filled with malice to do anything
about.
However, there was also salvation there.
If you just stretched out your own hand…if you simply gritted your teeth and continued
forward, there was definitely a light that would await you after you struggled and
struggled and struggled. The world was not so hopeless that it even robbed you of that
ray of light.
“Misaka apologizes for interrupting this emotional reunion,” Misaka Worst said with
thorns of warning in her tone, “but it doesn’t look like this god damn war is going to
have a happy ending to it.”
Accelerator felt something was wrong before he even turned his head to check on his
surroundings.
He had an unpleasant feeling like something cold was piercing into him through all the
skin on his body. No, perhaps it was the opposite of that. It may have been that the
trembling within his body was flowing out through his skin. It did not matter which it
was. At any rate, it was not coming from his usual five senses. It felt like his body’s
sensors and the calculative circuits in his brain were malfunctioning because he was
forcibly taking in information he was not supposed to be able to take in.
He could feel an immense pressure coming from above.
It felt like an incredibly concentrated form of what was emitted by Unabara Mitsuki, the
water angel, and those parchments.
Accelerator looked up into the heavens while still embracing Last Order.
A giant fortress was floating there.
The golden light filling the sky was being swallowed up by the fortress. Accelerator
thought he could feel the pressure of that immense power that was concentrating in one
spot.

120

He could feel where it was aimed. That mass of unknown power was being aimed at the
earth.
He had no idea what meaning that fortress had.
He did not understand what effect sending that power to the earth would have.
However…
“…I doubt anything good would come of firing that.”
It was possible whoever was firing it was not after simple destruction. Perhaps it could
produce some kind of special effect. Even so, the result would be the same. If power that
great was sent down to the earth, how far would the damage spread? And if he assumed
it was something other than a purely scientific energy due to the feeling in his skin,
Accelerator could not reflect it.
If it made it through, everyone would die.
Accelerator, Misaka Worst, Last Order…everyone.
“…Fuck that.”
Immediately after he muttered those words, there was a sound like an explosion and
wings that were black like ink erupted from Accelerator’s back. Those black wings were
the symbol of his anger. That tremendous power was full of mysteries. He doubted it
was created simply with the help of the Misaka Network and he had no idea if Last
Order could forcibly shut it down. Whenever those wings had appeared, Accelerator had
been in a state where he had pretty much completely lost his mental balance. They
appeared when he simply wished to kill the enemy before his eyes even if it meant
casting aside everything he believed in. The killer intent erupting from his chest had
trampled over the world in the form of those black wings. That was the kind of power it
was.
It was as if the wings had been squeezed from his body by the pressure from the fortress
in the heavens.
It was just like when he had confronted Aiwass.
However…
“…Misaka Worst.” Accelerator’s words were as quiet as a whisper. “I am going to stop
that. Can you protect that brat?”
“From the Russians? Or from Academy City?”
“From everything.”

121

Misaka Worst sighed at that ridiculous order. Making an enemy of both sides was
essentially the same as telling her to fight every single force taking part in World War III.
However, she pulled a metal nail out of her pocket with a malice-filled smile on her face.
“Well, Misaka was going to bring them to tears anyway, so this does not change what she
must do. And if we can analyze the information from the song within Last Order and the
Misaka Network, we might be blessed with a chance to obtain technology that Academy
City does not have.”
Last Order may have felt uneasy at the confusing situation that was developing around
her. Her small hands grabbed onto Accelerator’s clothes.
“Where are you going? says Misaka as Misaka asks a question.”
Her eyes wavered as she looked up from within his arms.
Most likely, she understood what Accelerator was about to do. And because she
understood, she was trying to stop him.
“You’re not going anywhere, right? says Misaka as Misaka checks to be sure.”
“Don’t worry. It’ll all be over soon.”
Accelerator did not say that he would be back or that he would be returning.
The monster with the black wings gently removed the small hands from his clothes one
finger at a time. It was as if he were shaking off the final bonds that kept him anchored
to the surface.
“No,” said Last Order in a small voice. “I want to always be with you, says Misaka as
Misaka begs you.”
“…Yes.”
Accelerator admitted it.
In the very, very end, he responded with a childlike smile on his face.
“I wanted to always be with you, too.”
With a sound like cracks spreading across ice, the monster’s wings changed color. The
ink-like pitch black changed to a snow-like pure white. Starting from the base and
spreading to the tips, the outer color and the inner essence all changed in an instant.
Just above his head, a small ring of the same color appeared.

122



That was his transformation.
With that mental change, he became a source that spewed forth a unique power into the
real world.
Accelerator put his hands on Last Order’s small shoulders, lightly pushed, and floated
up into the sky due to the recoil like an astronaut in zero gravity.
Last Order’s small hands stretched up into the sky toward Accelerator.
But she could not reach him.
Accelerator was already floating a few meters up.
Convinced that he had done the right thing, Accelerator flapped his white wings. His
one-hundred-meter wings used more than just the power of the wind. They also
converted some more unknown energy into lift. He emitted no force down at the earth,
but he still shot up like a bullet.
In an instant, Accelerator reached a point three thousand meters up and scattered the
thick clouds that were hanging in the sky.
At the same time, the fortress in the heavens made its move.
The mass of golden power that was being taken in from above and stored underneath
was mercilessly thrown downwards. Accelerator could feel the pressure on his cheek as a
stinging numbness. Just like his white wings, that power truly was not a normal power.
Most likely, his reflection would not work on it. It would just pierce straight through like
when he had been defeated by Aiwass.
But so what?
Accelerator moved his white wings even more and his speed of ascent shot up. With no
tricks up his sleeve, he headed straight for the falling golden mass. There was a slight
smile on his lips.
(I see.)
Accelerator finally realized it.
(So this is what a fight to protect something is like.)
Immediately afterwards, the two massive powers clashed at an altitude of eight
thousand meters.

124

Part 2

A tremendous shock shook the Star of Bethlehem.
The golden light had exploded.
“What…?”
But a great disaster did not assault the earth as Fiamma of the Right had expected. Nor
was the earth dyed gold like the heavens. The great amount of Telesma that was fired
down from the Star of Bethlehem was obstructed by something.
“That should have reached the necessary output!! That should have created the amount
of destruction on the earth needed to complete the conditions for my strategy effectively
supporting my victory!! What happened…!?”
The tragedy he wished for had not occurred.
Instead of recognizing the increase in malice, the tragedy had been held in check which
had wiped the dark parts from the people’s hearts.
It may have been nothing more than a temporary excited feverishness similar to the
global unity felt only during a sports festival.
But even if it was only for a moment, the people of the earth felt that they were all the
world needed.
They felt that anyone offering salvation while looking down on them should just fuck off.
“Is that enough for you?”
Kamijou Touma stepped forward with his fist still clenched.
He took one, two, three steps.
“It’s time for you to give it a rest with this illusion of yours.”
He suddenly charged forward.
He did not need any tricks. He just approached in a straight line from the front. In
response, Fiamma of the Right used everything he had to swing around the third arm
that was the symbol of his power. The tremendous power contained within it was too
great for Imagine Breaker to negate. If Kamijou failed to turn aside its trajectory, he
could pulverize the boy’s entire right arm. That may have been what Fiamma was
thinking as he tried to eliminate the obstacle before his eyes using brute force.

125

However, Kamijou did not stop.
The instant the attacking third arm struck his right fist head on, that oddly shaped arm
that was Fiamma’s greatest weapon was blown away.
Fresh blood and flesh flew through the air.
He had finally managed to have his third arm incarnated, but it now lost its physical
shell and trembled painfully in midair.
“What!?”
Intense pain must have assaulted him like an avalanche because the skin of his face
became greatly distorted as he cried out.
Kamijou’s power had not been increased.
Imagine Breaker was nothing more than Imagine Breaker.
Fiamma’s third arm that responded to malice had been weakened to the point that it
could be destroyed by even Imagine Breaker. Small pieces of virtue had spread like
ripples until they had filled the entire surface of the earth effectively breaking the core
that supported Fiamma’s power.
The power that made Fiamma of the Right special no longer existed.
It was doubtful whether he could use his direct attacks with his third arm or his evasion
using instantaneous horizontal movement over kilometers.
Given that, he had no way of stopping Kamijou Touma’s advance.
“Tch!!”
Fiamma held out Index’s remote control spiritual item. He was trying to use the
knowledge of the 103,000 grimoires to intercept Kamijou. His defenses must have been
weakened by the loss of his special power because a terrible headache stabbed into him,
but he ignored it and continued searching through the knowledge. The light in his eyes
said that he would kill the enemy before his eyes no matter what.
But then Fiamma heard a voice.
It was the voice of the grimoire library that he was supposed to be contacting magically.

126

(Warning: Chapter 88, Verse 1. An abnormality has occurred to the main body as it
carries out the search. Due to receiving too great an external stimulus, operation
efficiency has been significantly impeded.)
“…!?”
Index Librorum Prohibitorum’s main body should have been safely stored in St.
George’s Cathedral. If an external stimulus had caused an error, an Anglican magician
must have done something.
His final means of attack had been cut off.
That was the difference between the two of them.
That was the decisive difference between the one who continually refined his power as
the one who would stand above all others and the one who got help from others and
continually struggled in an attempt to stand up to the one who stood above all others.
A mere high school student clenched his right fist and ran toward the king who
controlled the world.
He headed deeply and sharply up to that throne where no one else had ever been
allowed to get near.
That was when Kamijou’s footing suddenly sank.
The Star of Bethlehem was weakening.
With the power supply from Fiamma of the Right cut off, it had naturally begun to
collapse.
In the very, very end the thing that had stopped Kamijou Touma’s legs from advancing
was…
(Misfortune.)
Fiamma’s lips twisted up eerily.
He once more focused on the remote control spiritual item in his hand.
(I just need five to ten seconds. In that time, I can forcibly rearrange the configuration of
the grimoire library!! I don’t care if the high burden burns away the 103,000 grimoires. I
just need to wash away the enemy before me!!)
“Oh…”
But Kamijou Touma’s advance did not stop there.

127

The boy yelled out and charged even further forward.
“Oooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!”
With a great noise, Kamijou jumped from the footing that was even then about to
crumble away.
He jumped to cross over the cracks separating the two of them.
He headed forward toward Fiamma like an arrow.
And then Fiamma knew.
He knew essentially what kind of existence the enemy before him was.
(Fuck that…)
Index’s remote control spiritual item would not make it in time.
That enemy would not give him the time needed for that.
(I am trying to create various phenomena using the miracles and blessings of the Son of
God to their fullest and this bastard doesn’t care!? He has the power to just walk straight
over all the vague things such as fortune and misfortune on his own!!)
“If you don’t think even a single person can be saved without using your method…”
Words flowed from the bottom of Kamijou Touma’s gut.
Instead of fighting against his fierce emotions, he put all of his strength into his right fist.
“…then I first need to destroy that illusion of yours!!”
A great noise exploded out.
Kamijou’s fist slammed into Fiamma’s face that had never once received an attack from
anyone and Kamijou’s powerful enemy was knocked to the ground with no loss in
momentum.
The remains of the third arm that were trying to cling to that world finally completely
disappeared as if melting into the air.
At the same time, the remote control spiritual item he had used to control Index fell
from his hand.

128



Part 3

Fiamma of the Right losing his third arm had a major effect on his fortress, the Star of
Bethlehem. Frequent large tremors stirred up unease even more than before. The
fortress had been continually ascending, but it now stopped where it was. The source of
power allowing that much mass to float was disappearing. At that rate, it would
eventually start to fall. If he did not escape before then, there would be no saving him.
While collapsed on the ground, Fiamma looked at his own hand.
The remote control spiritual item was gone.
The shock of the punch had knocked it from his hand. The spiritual item had fallen
through the cracks on the floor. It was probably still within the fortress, but Fiamma had
no idea where.
If he only had that, he could fight back with normal magic.
Fiamma thought that, but he had no strength left in his arms or legs. Now that he had
lost his third arm, Fiamma was no different from a normal human. A light concussion
was enough to inhibit his movements.
He heard a voice in his dim consciousness.
It was coming from the speakers set up in various parts of the Star of Bethlehem.
“We had no time, so…um, Sasha-san was it? ...Anyway, she and I have already escaped
using the containers. You need to hurry, too. The Star of Bethlehem has started to fall.
The fortress itself is starting to wear down in places, so the number of usable containers
is limited.”
Through the broken floor, he could see the bottommost floor of the fortress. After a few
wire mesh floors, there was nothing but the sky below. The escape containers were
hanging down below, but most of them were unusable. Some of the containers
themselves had been crushed and some of the lowering hook portions had been
destroyed preventing them from functioning.
There was probably only one usable container.
And that usable container that was unreliably shaking was a small one only about the
size of a phone booth. It was not a large container that could carry over fifty people at a
time. Only one person would be able to fit inside it. Having lost his third arm making
him a mere human, Fiamma could not lower himself down from such a great height
under his own strength.
Kamijou Touma and Fiamma of the Right.

130

Which one would get in the container and which one would be destroyed along with the
fortress?
The answer was so obvious he did not even need to think about it.
(…So this is it.)
That was Fiamma’s only thought.
If every person living in that world would reject salvation, he no longer cared. He had
followed the path he had chosen for himself and he was fine with simply continuing on
to his own destruction.
Strength slowly left his entire body and he closed his eyes.
And then someone grabbed his collar.
“Hey, let’s go.”
It was Kamijou Touma.
He forced Fiamma up with his bloody body and then started walking dragging Fiamma’s
limp body along with him.
“…What are you…doing…?”
“We don’t have time. The Star of Bethlehem has started to fall. If we don’t escape, we’ll
get wrapped up in its destruction.”
“Do you not understand the situation?” Fiamma said while completely at Kamijou’s
mercy.
He used his chin to point in the direction Kamijou was headed.
“The escape containers are unusable. Only a single personal one is in a state where it
might be functional. It’s either me or you. Only one of us will be saved.”
“So it seems.” Kamijou sighed and then continued speaking. “So you need to escape. At
any rate, we don’t have time, so let’s hurry.”
“…”
This time, Fiamma was simply left speechless and he stared at Kamijou’s face.
As he did so, Kamijou dragged Fiamma down to the bottommost floor and headed for
the escape container.

131

Kamijou was serious.
There was no reason to make a bluff in that situation. If he simply abandoned Fiamma,
the man behind it all, and got in the escape container, Kamijou would survive. He would
become known as a hero by everyone. No one would criticize him for leaving Fiamma to
die. In fact, most people would likely praise him for finishing off the man who had
caused all that tragedy.
And yet…
Why would he say those words in that situation?
No matter how many times he thought through it, Fiamma could not figure out the
answer. And while he still had no answer, they arrived at the escape container. Kamijou
very carefully reached his hand out for the container door. The container was not
destroyed by his right hand’s power.
Kamijou opened the door and put Fiamma inside the container without any hesitation.
It was not normal.
Fiamma tried to slip out of the container, but his body was too badly damaged to move.
Fiamma shook his head without even thinking.
He himself did not understand what he was trying to deny.
“…Is this really okay?”
“Is what?”
“I am a person who does not understand just how vast the world is.”
“I see,” said Kamijou with a slight smile.
Until the end, Fiamma did not understand why he was smiling.
“Then go find out on your own from now on.”
Kamijou locked the container door from the outside. Immediately afterwards, the
container slid down a short rail and was thrown out into the sky.
For a bit, Kamijou watched the container grow smaller as it fell.
Finally, he lifted up his gaze as if he were shaking it free of the container.
The final container had been ejected.

132

There was no longer any safe way of escaping from the fortress.
Suddenly, he heard a great roar. The direction of the raging wind changed. Kamijou
instinctually covered his face with his hands and then spotted a single fighter. It was a
type of aircraft called a VTOL craft that could rise vertically and come to a stop in midair
like a helicopter.
He recognized the person sitting in the cockpit.
It was…

Part 4

“More to the right!! A little more!! Get closer!!”
While leaning forward from the back seat, Misaka Mikoto was shouting at the Sister
holding the stick.
Finally.
She had finally made it there.
She had made it to the same time and same space as that idiot!!
“Original, that grin is creepy, points out Misaka.”
“Bfh!? N-no it isn’t!! Your judgment has become skewed due to you being the
comparison!!” Mikoto frantically pulled on her cheeks to check on her face. “Aahhh!!
What is going on!? It was floating up just a bit ago, so why is that fortress starting to
fall!?”
“Misaka apologizes for interrupting you as you heat up, Original, but your voice cannot
reach him if we do not open the cockpit canopy, points out Misaka.”
“How!? Which button do I press!?”
Just as she asked that, Mikoto had a sudden twinge of doubt.
They were over ten thousand meters up in the sky. The air would be below -50 degrees,
the atmospheric pressure would be quite low, and there would be little oxygen. Was it
really okay to just open the canopy?
If she did not open it, she could not reach him. But the conditions would not let her
open it.

133

While Mikoto was overcome by that terrible dilemma, the Sister expressionlessly
strained her ears.
“…There is something off with the roar of the engine, reports Misaka.”
“?”
“It is the conduction pattern of -7 degrees and 1 atmosphere, says Misaka after
completing the definite calculations. How is unclear, but it appears the area outside is
being maintained as a similar environment to the surface despite being at an altitude of
over ten thousand meters, says Misaka as she reports her conclusion.”
“In other words…”
“It appears there would be no problem with opening the canopy, communicates Misaka.”
Immediately afterwards, the canopy opened straight up like a rugby ball splitting in half
vertically. It seemed the Sister had pressed the proper button.
As the Sister had said, Mikoto had no problem breathing. The air was cold, but it was
not dozens of degrees below zero.
The Sister slowly moved the VTOL craft by tilting it slightly. Instead of pointing the nose
toward the fortress, the craft approached vertically. In other words, the edge of the right
main wing slowly approached.
Just a few more meters.
Or was it a few hundred centimeters?
Because the fortress was trembling unstably, the precise distance was irregularly
changing.
However, she was remarkably closer than when she was hesitating in Academy City.
“This is the very limit…landing may be difficult, says Misaka as she grips the stick,” said
the Sister.
The fighter was completely frozen in midair.
It was just a bit away from reaching the fortress.
“The VTOL is meant to be used to slowly land, explains Misaka. If we forcibly land on
this fortress that is moving up and down quite a bit, there is a risk of crashing the
bottom of the body into the surface, says Misaka as she voices her concern.”

134

“What about a larger spot? This fortress is huge. If we head farther up, surely we can
find a space even larger than a pasture.”
“As the trembling of the fortress would remain the same, there is no avoiding the risk of
crashing no matter where we try to land, says Misaka giving a negative opinion. And
even if we did manage to land on the fortress, we would have no way of escaping if the
fighter were to lose its flight capabilities, says Misaka as she frowns.”
“Then forget landing.” With the canopy still open, Mikoto reached for the buckle of her
belt. “Keep our balance as much as you can! I’ll go directly out on the main wing and
pull that idiot up!!”
Mikoto got up out of her seat and crawled out onto the main wing.
Perhaps because she was attaching her feet to the wing with magnetism, she was less
afraid than she had expected.
She slowly advanced along the wing.
She was closing in on the spiky-haired boy.
(C’mon, reach him…)
A great tremor ran through the fortress.
It lowered in altitude.
The sense of stability from before was gone.
It was as if invisible strings holding up the fortress were snapping one by one. The
shaking increased Mikoto’s anxiety.
(Reach him!!)
The VTOL craft with Mikoto stuck to its main wing shook as it slowly approached the
fortress.
That was when her eyes met with that idiot’s.
That spiky-haired boy seemed to be utterly perplexed at seeing that escape method
appearing before him out of the blue. Deep down Mikoto wanted to say “What were you
even planning to do, you idiot?”, but she did not have time to get after him about that.
She would lecture him to death later.
Mikoto made it all the way out to the end of the wing and stretched her arms out as far
as they would go.

135

Would she reach him? Or would she not?
Her fingertips made it to the point where they were on the verge of reaching.
But then the boy did something she had never expected.
He shook his head.
And then his hand, which he should have been holding out, stopped moving.
(Wha—!?)
Just as Mikoto’s eyes opened wide in surprise, the boy’s lips moved slightly.
She could not hear what he was saying.
However, she could tell what it was from the movement of his lips.
“I still have something I need to do.”
Another great tremor ran through the fortress. The fortress moved toward the earth
much more and with much less stability than before. It was like a large ball rolling down
a hill picking up enough speed that it could no longer be stopped. She had to retrieve
that idiot from there. If things advanced more than that, she would no longer be able to
reach him. Mikoto came to that conclusion mostly with her intuition.
But then the VTOL craft suddenly moved. It shook as if it were leaving the fortress.
“Wait!! What are you doing!?”
“The trembling of the fortress has passed beyond a certain point, reports Misaka. If we
remain close to it, there is a danger of crashing into it.”
“…!!”
While still stuck to the trembling wing, Mikoto held out her hand and manipulated
magnetism.
She didn’t care if she had to force him.
She would magnetically grab his school uniform’s buttons, his belt buckle, or whatever
she could and pull that boy out of that fortress.
That was what she planned to do, but the magnetic thread connecting her and that boy
suddenly snapped.
“Eh…?”

136

Mikoto stared blankly because she did not understand what had happened.
But immediately afterwards, she figured it out.
That boy had a mysterious power that could negate all of Mikoto’s abilities.
He had severed his final lifeline.
He had lost his final chance.
Even though she had the power to take on a tank and even though she had the power to
stop the firing of a nuclear missile, it was not enough to save that one boy.
The VTOL craft distanced itself from the fortress that continued to unstably fall. The
Sister greatly shook the fighter and Mikoto fell into the cockpit from the wing. She then
closed the canopy. Immediately afterwards, the blessings of the mysterious field
surrounding the fortress disappeared.
The reason was simple.
They had gotten that far away from the fortress.
And they had left behind that boy who had said he still had something he needed to do.
Misaka Mikoto’s cries were the only things that remained behind.

Part 5

(…I still have something I need to do.)
The VTOL craft flew away.
That fighter may have been his final means of escape.
But Kamijou turned his back on it.
It was not over yet.
If the structure named the Star of Bethlehem that had a radius of over forty kilometers
were allowed to free fall down, he had no idea how much damage would be done to the
heavenly body known as the earth. As long as he had not done something about that, the
war would not be over.
(And…)

137

Kamijou looked around in search of a certain object. It was the remote control spiritual
item that could externally control Index. After the final strike, it had fallen somewhere
through a crack in the floor. He had to find it and destroy it.
The fortress trembled below his feet.
The shaking agitated his unease like an elevator moving at a fixed speed suddenly
stopping.
The fortress would not last much longer.
Just as Kamijou was reminded of that fact, he heard a girl’s voice.
He heard a voice on that fortress that no one else was supposed to be on.
“Touma.”
It was the voice he had wanted to hear for so long.
The remote control spiritual item had left Fiamma’s hand, but it must have still been
functioning. The girl’s consciousness was no longer being held in anyone’s hands and it
was drifting about in the area of the spiritual item.
“Touma.”
The girl’s transparent body appeared as if floating up from the air. Ignoring gravity, she
looked at Kamijou while still upside down.
“Why didn’t you escape?” she said.
“Because none of this is over yet.”
After responding, Kamijou continued further into the Star of Bethlehem. He was not
searching randomly. The girl’s existence was calling him toward the spiritual item he
was searching for.
“Not only do I have to deal with your spiritual item, but I have to deal with this fortress
itself.”
After saying that, Kamijou’s expression suddenly grew cloudy.
There was one thing that had not been resolved in the fight with Fiamma of the Right.
“…I’m sorry.”
That was the issue of his lost memories.

138

That was the issue of whether it had truly been right of him to continue to hide that fact
from her.
He had not wanted to hurt Index. He had wanted to be the Kamijou Touma that she had
trusted. But hadn’t that truly just been Kamijou himself not wanting to see Index’s
shocked face? Hadn’t he just been afraid that she would leave him?
Now that the fight with Fiamma was over, he understood.
If he truly felt it had been for her sake, he would overcome it.
He would overcome the painful things, the difficult things, and everything else.
He could not be afraid of where he stood.
“I’ve done something terrible to you. I’ve been fooling you this whole time. I’ll tell you
everything now. I have no proof that I’ll make it back from the Star of Bethlehem, so I’ll
tell you while I can.”
Kamijou hung his head down just a bit.
But then he lifted his head up once more with determination.
“I…”
He would tell her.
He felt that opening his mouth for that purpose took more courage than anything he had
ever done before.
“I…”
This was what he had been hiding for so long.
His memory loss.
He opened his mouth to tell that truth.
“”
As he moved his mouth and spoke, Kamijou had one thought.
(It’s been so long.)
“It’s fine,” Index said as if interrupting him. “That…doesn’t matter anymore. As long as
the usual you returns from this, nothing else matters.”

139

“…”
He fell silent for just a bit.
He strongly felt that he could not allow himself to become dependent on that kindness.
“I will come back.”
However, being strict with oneself and being pessimistic were two different things.
He would definitely return alive.
To make sure of that, Kamijou Touma made the following promise.
“I won’t just do this through the spiritual item. Once I return, I will make sure to bow
down to you in person.”
Kamijou looked over at a panel on a nearby pillar. It was a communications device with
a microphone so one could speak through the speakers set up in various places across
the Star of Bethlehem. He could not read the Russian writing, but he could understand
the numbers written next to it.
“Tell the Anglican Church that the frequency is 50.9 megahertz. That will connect to
these speakers. I have no idea how much damage will be done if a mass this large just
falls straight down. We have to lower its speed in stages and get it to fall somewhere safe.
I’m the only one onboard, so I need advice on what to do.”
“I can’t,” said the girl in a troubled voice. “I can’t return to my body of my own will.”
“Yeah,” Kamijou replied readily.
He was staring at an annoying tube-shaped spiritual item lying on the floor.
“That’s why I’ll be sending you back ahead of me.”
He stretched out his right hand and grabbed the small tube-shaped spiritual item.
That was all it took.
The spiritual item crumbled and lost its power to bind that girl. Her transparent body
disappeared as if an eraser had rubbed up against it.
He was now truly alone.
The Star of Bethlehem continued to fall. Its speed was gradually rising. Once it passed a
certain point, there would be no preventing it from striking the surface of the earth at
close to free fall.

140

That large mass with a radius of greater than forty kilometers would directly strike the
earth.
If that happened, the twenty-first century earth would prove that a meteorite strike
could bring about an ice age. Some historians may rejoice at that, but for most people it
would be nothing but a tragedy.
The final battle began.
What hung in the balance was the fate of the planet.

Part 6

“According to the information given by the Roman Catholic Church and the Russian
Orthodox Church, the Star of Bethlehem floats in the sky using twenty large ascent
spiritual items. Fiamma losing his power has started a chain reaction that is lowering
the Star of Bethlehem’s output. At the current rate, it should completely lose all of its lift
in an hour at which point it will be in a complete free fall toward the surface.”
Stiyl Magnus’s voice was coming from the speakers placed in various places around the
fortress. He had been left with the role of guarding Index, but that role was over now
that the remote control spiritual item had been destroyed.
“But by destroying specific ones out of those twenty large ascent spiritual items, we can
control the orientation and travel direction of the Star of Bethlehem. And your right
hand is perfect for the job.”
“What are the specific points I have to destroy?”
“Just a second. I just got the diagram. It just shows the expected layout, so the actual
thing may be different. If you notice anything out of place, tell me.”
Kamijou followed Stiyl’s instructions and traveled using the fortress’s monorail and then
his own two feet when that did not suffice. He had no time left. If he failed, it would
affect six billion lives.
“I’ll tell you the specific locations orally, but you need to destroy numbers 3, 9, and 13 in
the south. That will change the Star of Bethlehem’s trajectory. You’ll be heading for the
edge of the Arctic Ocean. By lowering the speed down to the very end and landing on the
water, the shock should be done away with to a certain extent. Given the altitude and the
mass, that is the only way to avoid doing serious damage to the global environment.”
“Won’t the speed of descent increase if we lower the number of large ascent spiritual
items?”

141